Digital Excellence 2017

With the MemberWise Digital Excellence successfully delivered this week, it is timely to reflect on the key goals of membership associations and how these goals will continue to be realised into 2018.

Most commonly, those who completed the Digital Excellence Survey undertaken by Research by Design on behalf of MemberWise, indicated that their principle aim is to increase member engagement.

Research by Design has made significant investment in understanding just what member engagement means and determining how best to measure it. This work is generating much interest in the sector, and we are seeing more and more associations commissioning research that has a clear focus on measuring both tangible and intangible engagement characteristics. More details on our work can be found here.

Increasing new member acquisition, retaining members and growing membership revenue are also keys priorities for associations. Inevitably these point back to engagement, but also the need for a clear value proposition.

Developing a framework to articulate a member value proposition is another area where we have invested heavily this year. It can be hard to truly understand what members want, get everyone on the same page internally, and articulate the value of membership in a compelling way. Our framework helps associations achieve this.

Call me on 0121 643 9090 or email me on heatherf@researchbydesign.co.uk to find out more about understanding and measuring member engagement and developing a value proposition.